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An Open Letter to the Peer Community

One of the leading criticisms about MHA creating a national certified peer specialist credential is that many people feel this should be done by a peer-run organization. Unfortunately, no peer-run organization has taken on this challenge yet. While MHA National is not a peer-run organization, many of our affiliates are. Our Board of Directors typically runs around 30% peers and well over 50% of our staff self-identify as people with lived experience. All MHA staff who have been working on this project are peers.

I have worked in peer support roles for 26 years and have been the executive director of two fairly large peer-run organizations including the Florida Peer Network which was the statewide peer organization. I was the Director of one of the SAMHSA national TA centers for developing peer organizations across the country. I have been a trainer for over 20 years and have trained in national models and in dozens of trainings created by my staff and me. I was the chair for the expert committee creating the Florida Certified Peer Recovery Specialist credential.

The BOD of MHA has not dictated any of the parameters of this certification, nor has our CEO; rather they have had faith in the abilities of peers to create the best model. The lead person at our partner agency on this project, the Florida Certification Board, Amy Farrington, Director of Certifications is a consummate professional and a peer. She was a former board member of the Florida Peer Network and led the efforts along with Gayle Bluebird, Clint Rayner and me in Florida to create a peer certification in 2006.

Our panel of subject matter experts was led by Larry Fricks, Joseph Rogers, Sue Bergeson, Tom Lane, and Janie Marsh, a working peer specialist and supervisor at MHA Oregon (PeerLink) and Andrea Crook, another working peer specialist and supervisor at MHA of Northern California. In addition we had a psychologist, a psychiatrist, a social worker, and a primary care doctor. The clinicians were part of the panel to help us to understand how we can bring peer support into all aspects of health care. The panel was led by Amy Farrington and me, giving us a healthy majority of peer voices who made the critical decisions about the duties and responsibilities of peers in peer support.

We have never intended to move peers towards doing clinical work in any way. Our efforts are to give peers every tool they need to perform as true peer supporters in a wide variety of settings. Peers are never expected to cross the line into a clinical role or to promote any clinical practice. They are meant to assist people who are working towards the recovery goals of their choice. We feel it is important for a peer working in inpatient settings, emergency departments, or in a service available through referral from a primary care doctor or other professional to understand how to function in those spaces. I do not believe that additional knowledge compromises the integrity of peer support.

We have been careful to send out our materials to thousands of people for public comment. We have had comments and responses from over 1,000 peers and over 95% have been favorable and positive contributions. We are now asking working peers to help us develop our written examination because they are the experts. Our certification is not based on any specific training; rather it is based on knowledge and the ability to pass a rigorous examination. You can take your training through any path available as long as it gives you sufficient knowledge to pass the exam.

We started this project using the iNAPS National Standards, the SAMHSA Core Competencies and the Canadian standards as our starting place and we believe we have stayed true to those well-conceived documents.

United Peers (UP) is an all peer run and is a program of Resources for Human Development (RHD). For over a year now, UP and RHD been researching and was once in the development stages of creating an advanced level peer certification training. Although there are huge barriers and an extensive process in Philadelphia (PA) that has prevented progress with the development of a recognized advanced certification training, RHD continues its efforts in creating an advanced level training program for all peer staff and standardizing peer services corporate wide. In fact, RHD has a Corporate Peer Services Coordinator (myself) that's dedicated to creating clinical standards for peer services as an effort to not only "hear the voice" of peer workers but to assist peer workers in professional development to help them understand the systems in which they may work and to help them acquire the knowledge/tools/skills necessary to do their work in these settings with confidence. Trainings, workshops, retreats and a curriculum is a part of this process. Your assistance or guidance with this initiative would be great!

(Note: RHD is a national human service non-profit and views "clinical" as being all inclusive and as any and all services provided to help people maximize their potential. This includes every department and service line. Resources for Human Development hopes to have peer support in every service line they offer which in-part includes residential, ACT, FQHC, housing, and partial hospitalization.)

I just learned of this from a peer representative at Maryland's DHMH. This could have such a positive impact on the growth of the Peer Support profession and on our goal here in Maryland to make Peer Services Medicaid reimbursable. Many thanks to all of you for your efforts. I've worked for 4 years as a Peer Specialist and am now seeking a Masters in Social Work. I'm so excited at the prospect of a National Certification enhancing my future prospects and my ability to better serve my peers.

As a certified Peer Support Specialist, I have seen so many different criteria's for state certification. Maryland and Virginia require training/education in 4 Domains, this certification requires 6, and "This certification requires a minimum of a year and a half’s documented experience (3000 hours) and in-depth knowledge in 6 domains of practice, including some areas not covered in existing programs". This says to me says that there needs to be standardized criteria established across the Peer movement for certification. Also, since Peer Support is fairly new, there are folks who are currently certified that work full-time as Peer Support Specialists, and there are some who work full-time in other careers, but are certified due to training and/or lived experiences, so the idea of requiring 3000 hours as a prerequisite for certification I believe should be lowered to a minimum of 1000 hours. My other concern is that MHA has collaborated with the FCB in order to put together the application/exam process. Were there any other models/state-run boards that were even considered? NAADAC (who also has a national Peer Support Specialist certification). Lastly, the cost $225.00 for the application, and $150.00 for the exam? Combined this is about the cost for a community college class. Why are the cost so high for a certification of this type? Answers/feedback would be appreciated.